Hand held electronic thermometers offer many advantages over glass-tube mercury thermometers. In the basic electronic thermometer design, a temperature sensing element is connected to a combined, battery-powered computing and display element. These components are housed in a rigid plastic case having a probe with handle shape. The temperature sensing element is mounted at the end of the probe section and covered with a metal cap. The computing and display element as well as the battery are secured in the handle section of the rigid case, where a viewing window is provided for the temperature display and an access door is optionally provided for battery replacement. The components are interconnected by wires or leads.
Although such thermometers have enjoyed widespread commercial acceptance since the 1970s, efforts at improvement on this basic design continued. To date, many advancements have been made. Exemplary advancements include mouth-friendly flexible probes, fast-response sensing elements, and audible signaling.
Concerning audible signaling, U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,798 to Watanabe describes an electronic thermometer with an electronic buzzer that is used to indicate the completion of a temperature measurement.
The conventional thermometer buzzer is low volume, and therefore difficult for some users to detect, particularly those with hearing loss. While volumes can be increased by applying greater power and using larger buzzers, such standard techniques would add impermissibly to unit size and cost.
Furthermore, conventional thermometers lack a cost-effective, easily identifiable indication that the measured temperature is in the fever range.
The present invention overcomes this cost-to-dectectability compromise by providing a low-cost electronic thermometer having a dual media fever alarm and a relatively high volume buzzer.